In U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,878, there is disclosed a clip assembly in the form of a row of U-shaped sheet metal clips. The clips are maintained in alignment with each other either by means of a pliant carrier strip which may be a plastic tape, most suitably a polyester plastic tape, the width of which is slightly less than the width of the clips, which is adhered to, or wrapped on essentially the entire outer surface of the arcuate crown portion of each clip by means of an adhesive, such as a pressure sensitive adhesive, or by means of a continuous layer of an adhesive substance per se. The clip assembly of the patent is adapted to be used with a hand-held clinching tool provided with a magazine for receiving the clip assembly, and along which the clip assembly is pushed rather than pulled in the direction of the forming jaw of the tool by a slidable member in abutting engagement with the last clip of the assembly. While the patent states that an "indeterminate" or "indefinite" number of the pliant material adhesively held U-clips can be spiraled into a coil, and that such a coil "could be extensive enough to keep an automatic clip-reforming machine operating for an entire workday", in actual practice those statements proved to be merely prophetic and, in actual commercial usage in the field, the attainment of those goals was found in no way to be attainable. More specifically in this connection, with the introduction of high-speed clinching machines, whether they be of the stationary type, or robot-like in operation, wherein each clip of the clip assembly is subjected to a substantial pulling force whereby each clip is successively pull-feed, at a rapid rate, into the forming jaw of the clinching machine, the clip assembly made directly in accordance with the preferred embodiment shown in said patent could not withstand the pulling or tension forces applied to it by such machines with the result that the adhesively held tape would be pulled free of, or be disengaged from, a major surface area of the arcuate crown portion of the clips causing the clips to be dislodged from the clip assembly and the integrity of the coil formed from the assembly to be disrupted to a point where it was of no practical use with such a pull-feed mechanism. As a consequence, the clip assembly made in accordance with the patent was later found, in commercial operations, to be limited to use with a push-feed mechanism and, as a result, could only be used in lengths of up to about 45 clips. An operator, therefore, was compelled to reload as many as five times in order to complete a single mattress innerspring, for example. Moreover, it was found that the clip assembly of the patent could not be wound into a tight, integrated roll, in the manner of a spool of thread or wire, because the tension placed on the clips during winding would cause the tape or adhesive to be pulled away from, or peel off the crown portions of the clips, and the clips would fall off. Also, due to the highly flexible, non-rigid character of the tape, the clip would tend to unravel and fall away from the roll, thereby creating shipping and handling problems which made the use of the clip assembly in roll form impractical and uneconomical.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,670 discloses a clip assembly which utilizes elongated strands of a small diameter plastic filament, or a soft wire, which are inserted into performed open-end recesses or notches provided in the lateral margins or edges on both sides of each clip of the assembly. The filament or wire is held in the notches by frictional forces only. Any pulling force, or tension, placed on the assembly, therefore, would act to misalign the clips, or even separate them from the assembly. A further serious shortcoming of such a clip arrangement is the tendency of the portions of the clip retaining wires between the legs of adjacent clips, when a clip is severed, to become lodged or wedged between the inner wall of the crown of the clip and the wrapped wire members of an innerspring mattress spring, for example. In the event that these severed pieces of wire become dislodged, a loose clip results permitting movement of the wrapped wire members of the mattress spring in relation to one another, resulting in a squeaky innerspring mattress. A further problem with the arrangement of said patent is that the notches formed in the legs of the clip tend to weaken the clip resulting in improper wrapping of the clips on the wire members of a workpiece. A still further failing of an arrangement such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,670 is that the severed wire on each side of the legs of a clip presents sharp, abrasive edges which are a source of injury to workers, and which cut and tear the fabric placed over an innerspring mattress.
German Pat. No. 1478829 is directed to a nailing strip for use in a power driven nailing machine. As such it is irrelevant, unrelated and foreign to the clip assemblies of the present invention in concept, approach, function, structure, and objectives. More specifically, in said German patent the nails comprising the strip are secured together by either a single strand of wire which extends across the tops of the flat-headed nails, or by two strands of wire which, according to the patent, may be secured on the upper surface of the flat-headed nails, the undersurface thereof, or, as a third alternative, on the upper ends of the shanks of the nails. Apparently any one of the various positions of the wire strands is as good as any of the others illustrated in the patent. The nails comprising the strip are intended to be driven into a workpiece such as roofing shingles, or the like, by means of a nailing machine. Wholly apart from their total lack of utility for wrapping wire members of the type employed in the manufacture of furniture, bed springs, and the like, the nailing strips shown in the German patent could not be used with the high-speed clip-clinching machines utilized in the manufacture of such articles. More specifically in this connection, the nail shanks of the nailing strips of the German patent can move transversely with relation to the longitudinal axis of the nailing strip as the nails are being successively advanced in the direction of the nail severing mechanism. As a result, misalignment of the nails can take place causing improper, or no, penetration of the nail into a workpiece. Such lateral movement in a clip-clinching machine would be intolerable in that the clip would be misaligned and no wrapping of the clip could occur, and, in all likelihood, the machine would jam. Also, severing of the nails of the strip of the German patent would leave sharp edges which would cause cutting or tearing of the fabric used in upholstering furniture and finishing innerspring mattresses. A further important disadvantage of an arrangement such as that disclosed in German Pat. No. 1478829 is that the strips cannot be wound upon themselves in roll form, in the manner of a spool of thread or wire, to form a compact, integrated, self-sustaining roll comprising thousands of nails.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,369 discloses a nailing strip in which the nails are held together by means of wires secured to the sides of the shanks of the nails. The nails, as in the case of German Pat. No. 1478829, are intended to be driven into a workpiece by a nailing machine, and do not have any utility whatever for wrapping wire members of the type used in making furniture and mattress springs. Also, as in the case of said German patent, the severed wires present sharp edges, and the nails are neither intended, nor are they adapted to be wound, in spool-like form, into a roll. In short, like the aforesaid German patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,369 is irrelevant, unrelated and foreign to the clip assemblies of the present invention in concept, approach, function, structure and objectives.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,703 there is shown channel-shaped electrical connectors for splicing insulated wires. The connectors are disposed along a carrier or tape, and are adapted to be fed into a special crimping device. Prong clusters are carried on an insert carried by the connectors for piercing the insulation on electrical conductors.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,087 discloses a nail package which is an improvement of the nailing strip shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,369. The package of Pat. No. 3,891,087 employs connecting elements for interconnecting the trailing nail of one package with the leading nail of a new nail package as the nail packages are fed into a nail driving machine.
German Pat. No. 2,250,375 shows a nail strip which also is similar to the nailing strip of U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,369. Each nail of the strip is provided with spaced transverse notches in its shank for receiving wires which act to hold the nails comprising the strip together. The strip is adapted for use in a nailing machine which drives a nail into a workpiece, the head of each driven nail acting to sever the wires held in the notches formed in the shanks of each nail.
As will be apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention, the disclosures of the foregoing three last-mentioned patents, and as was stated above in regard to the earlier German Pat. No. 1,478,829, are irrelevant, unrelated and foreign to the clip assemblies of the present invention in concept, approach, function, structure and objectives, and involve an entirely different commercial environment from that of the present invention.